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Fri, 31 Jul 2015 21:22:39 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3How to Carve a Turkeyhttp://barbecuebible.com/2014/11/21/carve-turkey/
http://barbecuebible.com/2014/11/21/carve-turkey/#commentsFri, 21 Nov 2014 13:00:28 +0000http://barbecuebible.com/?p=8660You sourced an organic or heritage turkey, brined it with whiskey and maple syrup for a day and a night, and slow-smoked it over hardwood. You basted it conscientiously and […]

]]>You sourced an organic or heritage turkey, brined it with whiskey and maple syrup for a day and a night, and slow-smoked it over hardwood. You basted it conscientiously and made gravy from the smoky drippings. Now comes the fun part—or for many people the scary part—to carve it in front of an expectant hungry crowd.

Well, we here at BarbecueBible.com have you covered. When you follow these six simple steps, anyone can approach the cutting board with confidence (after making sure that everyone has had ample opportunity to admire that gorgeous bird whole) and take a long, slender carving knife in hand. You’ll also need a carving fork or short spring-loaded tongs.

Note: Never carve or serve a turkey hot out of the oven. Let it rest, loosely draped with aluminum foil, for at least 20 minutes. The bird will be juicier.

To remove one of the breast halves, use a sharp carving knife to make a lengthwise cut down one side of the breast bone.

Remove the half breast and set it aside.

Pull the leg away from the body with a carving fork. Slide the knife down the carcass through the leg joint and remove the leg. Set it aside.

Pull the wing away from the body with the carving fork. Slide the knife down the ribcage through the wing joint and remove the wing. Set it aside.

Cut the breast crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices, or as thick as you desire.

Separate the thigh from the drumstick by cutting through the joint. Place both pieces on the serving platter (along with the sliced breast and wing) and repeat on the other side of the turkey.

There’s a big difference in texture and taste between ice-hard frozen supermarket turkeys and fresh organic birds from your natural foods store or farmers’ market. The organic bird may seem a little tougher, but you can’t beat the flavor—or the knowledge that it’s free of hormones and chemical additives. You’ll need to order it ahead, so don’t wait until the last minute.

So how big a turkey should you buy? Figure on 1 1/2 pounds per person. This will make you feel properly overfed (as you should at Thanksgiving) and leave you with welcome leftovers.

But bigger isn’t always better. For me, a 12- to 14-pound turkey is ideal. For large gatherings, I’d rather cook two 12-pounders than one 24-pound monster. (It’s easier to control the cooking.)

A lot of industrially raised birds come pre-injected with stock, water, and/or butter or vegetable oil—up to 15 percent. Water is cheaper than meat, which is one reason processors do it. Try to buy your turkey un-injected. You can always brine it yourself (see below).

The best and safest way to thaw a turkey is in the refrigerator. Depending on the size of the bird, you’ll need to start thawing it up to five days ahead: figure on one day for every four pounds of turkey. Alternatively, thaw the turkey in a deep sink or cooler filled with cold water: Change the water every 30 minutes. It’s important for food safety reasons to keep the water at 40 degrees or less. You can add resealable bags of ice to the water to keep it cold. Never thaw the turkey in hot water as the outside will thaw long before the inside, risking dangerous bacterial growth.

Most turkeys come with some of the innards (liver, heart, gizzard) and neck in a plastic bag secreted inside. These are called giblets. There are two places to look for them: in the main cavity and in the front cavity (under the neck skin). This may sound obvious, but once I was served a roast turkey that still had the innards in their plastic bag inside.

Use the turkey liver for making chopped or sautéed liver. (For extra flavor, smoke it before chopping.) While you’re at it, smoke the heart, gizzard, and neck and use them for making turkey soup or stock. Tip: smoked turkey necks are one of the “secret” ingredients in a great Louisiana gumbo. (Just ask David Rauch of Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse in LaPlace, Louisiana.)

One thing that makes a turkey challenging to cook is that the legs (the dark meat) take longer to cook than the breast (the white meat). This explains why so much turkey tastes dried out. One way to keep the breast moist even while cooking the legs to a safe temperature is brining. Another is injecting. A third technique is spreading butter under the skin of the turkey (find out how to loosen the skin of a chicken or turkey in How to Grill or in this Turkey Adobo recipe). A fourth method is to smoke-roast the turkey “beer can chicken style” on a tall-boy can of beer. A fifth method is to deep-fry the turkey—admittedly not barbecuing or grilling, but you also do it outdoors (you can find a recipe in Man Made Meals).

Despite the name, stuffing is best cooked separately, not in the turkey cavity. For one, you can brown and crisp the top. (In the bird it merely steams.) You also greatly reduce the risk of bacterial contamination by cooking the stuffing separately.

Turkey should be cooked to at least 165 degrees. To check the temperature, insert the probe of an instant-read meat thermometer into the deepest part of the thigh (but not touching the bone).

Never carve or serve a turkey hot out of the oven. Let it rest, loosely tented with aluminum foil, for at least 20 minutes. (Lay a the sheet of foil over the bird—don’t wrap it.) This “relaxes” the meat and restores the juices. In our next blog post, we’ll show you step by step with photos how to carve a turkey.

]]>http://barbecuebible.com/2014/11/18/12-steps-thanksgiving-turkey/feed/1Back to School: The Raichlen Crash Course on Barbecuing and Grillinghttp://barbecuebible.com/2014/09/05/raichlen-crash-course-barbecuing-grilling/
http://barbecuebible.com/2014/09/05/raichlen-crash-course-barbecuing-grilling/#commentsFri, 05 Sep 2014 12:11:56 +0000http://barbecuebible.com/?p=7818Say it’s not true! Is it back to school time already? Maybe you’re college bound and want to show off your grill skills for your dorm mates. Maybe this is […]

]]>Say it’s not true! Is it back to school time already? Maybe you’re college bound and want to show off your grill skills for your dorm mates. Maybe this is the year you aspire to smoke the competition on the tailgating circuit. Maybe you survived you first grill season and you want to take your skills to the next level. Or maybe you just can’t wait until the next session of Barbecue University in June.

Well, here’s the official Raichlen crash course on barbecuing and grilling—the essentials you need to rock the grill every time you fire it up. Master the lesson, then practice, practice, practice! There’s still plenty of beautiful weather ahead and ample occasions for autumn grilling. Your textbook for this course is How to Grill. Here are the Cliffs Notes.

First, know your grills (choose your weapon):

Charcoal grills: If I had to pick only one grill for you to buy, it would be a 22-1/2-inch charcoal kettle grill: first, because charcoal gives you the primal thrill of playing around with fire, and second, because it’s well-suited to all five methods of live-fire cooking. (A gas grill is not.) Limited outdoor space? Consider a smaller, widely available, and eminently affordable charcoal grill popular in Asia, the hibachi. Just know that you can’t smoke on a hibachi.

Gas grills have the advantage of pushbutton ignition and turn-of-a-knob heat control, which explains why nearly 70 percent of American households have one. You want a model with at least two burners (so you can indirect grill); ideally three, four, or even six burners. Gas grills are good for direct and indirect grilling and spit-roasting. Not so good for smoking or caveman grilling.

Wood-burning grills (which burn logs). Smokers (which cook “low and slow”—at a low heat for a long time using wood smoke for flavor and heat transfer. Pellet grills (which burn compressed sawdust). Kamado cookers (egg-shaped, thick-walled ceramic grills epitomized by the Big Green Egg), etc. All are in the Barbecue University collection and all are worth investigating for your home.

To light a charcoal grill: Fill the top section of the chimney starter with charcoal and place a crumpled sheet of newspaper or a paraffin firestarter at the bottom. Place the chimney on the bottom grate of your grill and light the paper or starter: the chimney’s upright design guarantees even ignition in 15 to 20 minutes—which is about the same amount of time it takes to preheat a gas grill. Note: I personally prefer cleaner-burning natural lump charcoal (jagged chunks of carbonized wood) to briquettes (which contain coal dust, borax, and petroleum binders). But the latter have their partisans, as briquettes burn longer and more evenly than lump charcoal.

To light a gas grill: Open the grill lid (this is very important, otherwise you may get a potentially explosive buildup of propane). Make sure your propane cylinder is full (or sufficiently full—not approaching empty) and open the valve. Turn on the burner (some manufacturers specify which burner to use for start-up) by rotating the knob, then press the igniter button. You’ll hear a clicking noise. A whoosh or flame will indicate ignition, but hold your hand about 3 inches above the burner for 30 seconds to make sure it’s really on. One by one, turn on the remaining burners. Note: if ignition fails the first time, shut off all the burners, air the grill out for at least five minutes, then relight. Note: make sure you have at least a quarter cylinder of propane before you start grilling. Better yet, always keep a full extra cylinder on hand. There’s nothing worse than running out of propane halfway through cooking dinner.

Prepping the grill for cooking: To grill well, start with a clean hot grate and keep it properly lubricated (oiled) to prevent sticking. Follow these three simple steps and you’ll grill like a pro every time:

Keep it hot. Preheat your grill to high—what I call a “2- to 3-Mississippi fire.” (Hold your hand 3 inches above the grate and start counting. If the heat forces you to withdraw your hand after 2 to 3 seconds, you’ve got a hot fire.)

Keep it clean. Brush the bars of the grate clean with a stiff wire brush. Put some muscle behind it. It’s much easier to clean the grate when it’s hot than when it’s cold.

Keep it lubricated. Oil the grate with a paper towel folded into a tight pad, dipped into a small bowl of vegetable oil, and drawn across the bars of the grate at the end of tongs. Alternatively, use a grill oiler, like the Best of Barbecue Grill Oiling Brush. This prevents sticking and helps give you well-defined grill marks. It also cleans any debris from the grate before you put the food on.

Master the 5 methods of live-fire cooking:

Direct grilling: Cooking food directly over the fire. Used for small, tender, quick-cooking foods like steak, burgers, chicken breasts, shish kebabs, fish fillets, vegetables, etc. Direct grilling is generally done over high heat (450 to 700 degrees) and the cooking time is measured in minutes.

Indirect grilling: Cooking the food next to, not directly over the fire, at a moderate heat (325 to 400 degrees) with the grill lid closed. Used for larger cuts of meat, like prime rib, whole chickens and turkeys, whole fish, and/or fatty foods, like baby back pork ribs. To indirect grill on a charcoal grill, rake the coals into mounds at opposite sides of the grill; on a gas grill, light one burner on a two-burner grill (the outside burners or front and rear burners on a grill with three or more burners), and cook the food over the unlit part of the grill.

Smoking/barbecuing: Similar to indirect grilling, in that the food is cooked next to, not directly over the fire with the grill or smoker lid closed. But smoking is generally done at a lower temperature (225 to 275 degrees) for a longer period (4 to 16 hours depending on the cut of meat), and it always involves hardwood chips, chunks, or logs to create a smoke flavor. Foods that are typically smoked include beef brisket, pork shoulder, spareribs, baby backs, etc.

Caveman-style grilling: The most primal (and eye-popping) method of cooking. Roasting steaks, tubers, peppers, onions, eggplants, and other vegetables directly on the hot embers of a charcoal or wood fire.

Some other useful grilling techniques:

Build a “three-zone” fire: Configure your fire so that you have a hot zone for searing, a medium zone for cooking, and a cool or safety zone where you can move the food to dodge flare-ups or keep it warm without further cooking. On a charcoal grill, mound the coals in a double layer in the back third of the grill to create a hot zone. Mound coals in a single layer in the center of the grill to create a moderate or medium zone. Keep the front third of your grill coal-free to create a cool or safety zone. Use a grill hoe or garden hoe to rake out the coals. On a gas grill, set one burner to high, one to medium, and leave one burner off for the safety zone.

To smoke on a charcoal grill:Soak 1 to 2 cups hardwood chips in water for 30 minutes, then drain well, and toss on the coals. Soaking makes the chips smolder, generating clouds of flavorful wood smoke.

To smoke on a gas grill: In a word, don’t. Gas grills do a notoriously poor job of smoking—even if they have dedicated smoker boxes. (The smoke escapes out the wide vents in the back of the grill before it has a chance to flavor the meat.) Exception to the rule. If using a Weber grill with inverted V-shaped Flavorizer bars, nestle a few V-shaped foil smoker pouches between these bars. The rising smoke will impart a mild smoke flavor.

]]>http://barbecuebible.com/2014/09/05/raichlen-crash-course-barbecuing-grilling/feed/0Spit-Roasting Stands on Its Headhttp://barbecuebible.com/2013/06/12/spit-roasting-stands-on-its-head/
http://barbecuebible.com/2013/06/12/spit-roasting-stands-on-its-head/#commentsWed, 12 Jun 2013 09:49:43 +0000http://barbecuebible.com/?p=2270Gyro. Doner. Shawarma. All are variations on a theme of spit-roasting—more precisely, on a rotisserie turned on its head. Gyro (as in our term “gyroscope”) refers to a popular Greek […]

All are variations on a theme of spit-roasting—more precisely, on a rotisserie turned on its head.

Gyro (as in our term “gyroscope”) refers to a popular Greek “fast” food: thin slices of spiced lamb (or lamb meatloaf) packed onto a spit and roasted on a vertical rotisserie to be thinly shaved by hand (a hand wielding a very large sharp knife) and piled onto a pita bread with yogurt and vegetables.

The Turks call the preparation doner, adding their own unique Turkish seasonings and condiments.

Shawarma is the Middle Eastern version—made with lamb, or often with chicken or turkey. The spicing ranges from the familiar onions and garlic to Middle Eastern za’atar (wild thyme blend) and lemony sumac. Here, too, a stunning selection of fresh and pickled vegetables accompanies the meat, plus yogurt and tahini (sesame sauce).

So what’s the big deal about cooking meat on a rotisserie stood on its head? Actually, there are several advantages to this singular method.

You can pack a lot of meat on a single vertical skewer. That means that one roasting session can serve dozens—even hundreds—of people.

Thanks to the upright position, as the lamb or turkey fat melts, the juices baste the layers of meat below it, keeping every serving moist and rich-tasting.

The meat cooks and is carved from the outside in, so everyone one gets a crusty end cut. (And in effect, everyone gets meat that is spit-roasted to order.) If you like the end cut of a prime rib as much as I do, you’ll understand why this is so important.

Alas, not all gyros, doner, and shawarma are created equal. When I’m grill-hopping in Greece or the Middle or Near East, I look for stands that do their vertical roasting the old-fashioned way: on a rotisserie fired by charcoal. It’s an ingenious set-up: There is a stack of metal or ceramic cubbyholes arranged like a ladder behind the spit. The grill master shovels a pile of burning embers on each shelf, so the roasting is done by charcoal. The meat tastes a little crustier and smokier than doner cooked on the ubiquitous electric rotisseries. I’d like to think you could tell them apart blindfolded.

Curiously, I haven’t had particularly compelling results on a conventional Western horizontal rotisserie. For starters, the juices drip off the turning meat instead of running down it to baste it. (You can compensate by spooning the fat in the drip pan back over the roast. But the problem is that as you carve the gyro, the roast gets further and further away from the heat, resulting in less browning and crisping as you approach the center. (Commercial gyro machines have an adjustable spit or burner, so you can move the meat closer to the heat as you carve it off the spit.)

My solution is to direct grill the thin slices of spiced lamb or turkey over a hot fire, then stack them up and carve them. Direct grilling delivers the crust, smoke, and char flavors of the best shawarma or doner, while stacking and slicing gives you thin crusty slivers characteristic of freshly sliced vertically roasted meats.

]]>Unexpected dinner for your boss or in-laws? Of course you want to serve something guaranteed to make eyes pop, jaws drop, and send your equity soaring. We’ve got you covered with a spectacular blackened, smoke-roasted whole beef tenderloin you can grill from start to finish in 30 minutes.

Step 2: Set up your grill for modified direct grilling: coals raked in an even layer over half the firebox, with the other half left coal free. Sear the tenderloin on all sides directly over the fire, 2 to 3 minutes per side, 8 to 12 minutes in all.

Step 3: Now — and here’s what’s going to take your tenderloin over the top — you smoke it in addition to grilling. Move the tenderloin over the coal free section of the grill. Toss 1-1/2 cups soaked drained oak or hickory chips on the coals. Cover the grill (vents wide open) and indirect grill the tenderloin until cooked to taste: about 135 degrees for medium rare. (Test with an instant read meat thermometer.) This will take about 15 minutes more.

Step 4: Let the tenderloin rest about 5 minutes before carving. (This relaxes the meat and makes it more tender.) In case you’re wondering what’s in the saucepan–it’s a roquefort cream sauce. Recipe to follow in an upcoming newsletter.

Step 5: Slice and serve. Most beef tenderloin (and filet mignon) is dry and bland. This one roars with spice and smoke flavors.

]]>Travel the world’s barbecue trail and you’ll find lots of grilled sweet potatoes. In Korea, where sliced grilled yams come with a garlicky soy dipping sauce. (Find the recipe on page 421 of Barbecue Bible.) At Barbecue University in Colorado Springs, where we cook them caveman-style—roasted directly in the embers.

Normally, when it comes to starchy tubers like sweet potatoes, you set up your grill for indirect grilling. But lately, we’ve been using a technique associated with steaks and chops: direct grilling. Provided you work over moderate heat, you get a crackling crisp skin and a moist creamy interior. And the dry heat of the grill caramelizes the natural plant sugars, intensifying the potato’s sweetness.

Use a bamboo skewer to test for doneness: It should pierce the potato flesh easily. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise.

And the crowning touch? A stick of herb or truffle butter. Make your own flavored butter by following the recipes starting on page 128 in Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades. Or try one of my Planet Barbecue Grilling Butters, available from select Whole Foods markets and Earthy Delights.